Dungeons & Adders: Fifth Column
by circa1994
Summary: As Salamandastron faces seafaring vermin, hostile forces seek to undermine their efforts from within. Side story to Dungeons & Adders.
1. Chapter 1

The caravan of carts and wagons trudged along the muddy roads amid the drizzling rain. Seated in one of the canvas covered wagons, a dark blue-pelted vixen sat cross-legged, her paw furiously scribbling words down on the parchment in front of her. "Predicted anything yet?", a glow-furred mink asked as she climbed into the slow-moving wagon. "I guess not.", she said as the vixen's blind eyes continued to stare blankly forwards. Reaching into her small leather knapsack, she withdrew a small, wrapped object. Unfolding the paper wrapping, she began eating the dried mackerel inside. She scratched her left wrist, where a tattoo of formless, horned being was etched in red upon her fur. Suddenly, the vixen stopped writing and turned to face the mink. "I'm finished.", she said as she ran her paw along the writing on the page. "So is any trouble expected Skuld?", the mink asked. "The writing suggest a future with both woe and weal ahead, Adraste.", Skuld answered. "So we know nothing?", the mink asked through a mouthful of fish. "No we know something bad will happen and something good will happen.", Skuld replied. "Let's hope more good than bad.", Adraste said, taking another bite.

 _There's the vermin.,_ Corporal Windpaw thought, her paw resting on the brass hilt of her dirk. "I could pick off a couple right now.", a younger buck hare crouching next to her said, nocking an arrow to his bowstring. "Calm down Private Hale, we are only suppose to observe and report back to Lady Aello.", the corporal said. Turning her attention back to the caravan slowly moving along the muddy road, she continued counting. "Nearly thirty beasts with three wagons and two carts, each pulled by two marmots.", Windpaw said. "Horrible vermin, using animals to pull their carts instead of doing themselves.", Hale commented. Looking up at the robin that had alerted Salamandastron to the vermin on the road about ten miles south of the mountain. "Go back to the place were we are gathered and tell the Badger Lady to assembly a patrol along the road ahead of them and send a squad into the bushes." "Yes corporal!", the bird said enthusiastically. "Shh. Not so loud.", Windpaw chided. The bird nodded and took off. "We'll continue following them stealthily and attack them from the rear when the Badger Lady springs the trap.", the brown-furred corporal said.

Around a half hour later, the rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to peak through the clouds. "Well, the weather certainly seems to be improving. By the portents I thought it'd never stop raining.", Adraste said as she finished eating the fish in her paw. "Does the writing say when the woe and weal are suppose to occur?" Suddenly there was a commotion outside. Adraste moved to the front of the wagon and pushed the canvas flap aside. "What's going on Redpelt?", she asked the fox driving the wagon. "Ther-there's a badger on the road!", he stammered, pointing forwards. Turning her head in the direction the vulpine's shaking paw was pointed, she saw a large badger, covered head to toe in plate armor. Cursing under her breath, Adraste retreated back into the wagon. "What is it?", Skuld asked, raising to her paws. "There's a badger in front of us!", the mink answered, picking up her sling. "Where's my roach belly?", she asked, rifling through the contents of the wagon. "Glaaki.", Skuld replied, gesturing towards the knife laying next to the fish the mink had been eating earlier. As Adraste's paw closed around the bone grip of her weapon, the two heard a sound that made their blood run cold. "Eulalia!", the hares shouted as they charged at the caravan of vermin from both sides of the road. The thirty-two members of the caravan, a mixture of all kinds of vermin, scrambled for their weapons. A brown rat at the head of the caravan dropped the basket he'd been carrying over his shoulder and held his staff up to block a saber cut from one of the hares. As the blow hit, he pushed back against the hare's blade, sending his more lightly built adversary back a few steps. Before the rat could swing the stout hardwood stave at the hare, an arrow sprouted from the side of his neck. As he fell, the saber-wielding hare thrust the point of his sword into the belly of a cowering female weasel. She screamed as the cold steel blade pierced through her abdomen and exited out her back. The hare grinned wickedly, savoring his victory, which proved to be short-lived. The weasel's mate, enraged by the hare's act, struck him on the back of the head with his tomahawk.

Meanwhile, Lady Aello charged into the fray, swinging her bardiche in wide arc. The massive blade of the polearm sliced cleanly through a ferret, and the ashen stave he'd held up in a futile effort to prolong his life. The axe continued along is path of destruction, cleaving through a rat's waist, and ending buried in the ground. A hare alongside rushed forwards, swinging her longsword at a stoat. The blow was deftly parried by the long rapier in the stoats paw. She made another high cut, which the stoat easily set aside. He then counted with thrust into her throat. The hare fell to the ground, a look of shock on her face. _Impossible!,_ she thought as she bled out. _Vermin can't win!_ The stoat parried a thrust from a spear and retaliated with a stab to the hare's groin. The brown-furred buck gasped in pain as his knees buckled. He looked up in time to see the stoat's rapier thrusting towards his eye.

Private Hale drew his bowstring back and aimed at a piebald rat swinging a staff around. He let the arrow fly, grinning as it struck its target. The rat screamed in agony as he collapsed, clutching the arrow in his belly. The stoatess standing next to rat jumped back in fear. She bashed a nearby hare over the head with her stout ashen walking staff and took off running. _Oh no you don't.,_ Hale thought as he angled his bow over the vermin's head. Grinning, he loosed the arrow, watching as it sailed through the air. The broad head tipped missile struck the fleeing stoatess in the nape of her neck, killing her instantly. Suddenly, he heard a harsh-sounding whinny behind him. Hale promptly vomited, spewing his dinner across the bushes he was hiding in. Turning his head he saw what looked like a green-eyed horse's head with a tentacle for a body floating in the air. Laughing, the aberration hurled itself at Hale. He screamed as the monster began tearing into his neck, chuckling as it did so.

"Got him.", Adraste said as she directed the sagari she had conjured to go after another hare. Skuld summoned three tiny lizards and sent each of them to attack a different target. The conjured animals did so, scurrying about and biting the hare's ankles and footpaws. The mink loaded a stone into her sling and whipped forwards, striking a hare in the temple. The sable-pelted beast collapsed where he stood, his longbow falling from his nerveless paws. Without warning, Skuld scooted back into the wagon, pulling Adraste with her. An albino rat, grappling with a doe hare, stumbled into view. The rodent shoved the hare against the back of the wagon, punching her in the nose as he did so. A grey-furred buck hare quickly approached the rat from behind, throwing his spear shaft over his head and pulling back hard. The rat gasped as he felt his airway being closed off. He kicked out desperately, striking the hare in front of him in the shin. The doe responded by plunging her long dirk into his belly. Scarlet blood stained the rat's white fur and kilt. His knees buckled underneath him as the hare plunged her blade into him again and again. Apparently satisfied that her enemy was dead, the doe shoved the dying rat to the ground and started to walk away from the wagon. Skuld swung her straight crooked ebony cane out of the cart and hooked her around her neck, pulling her backwards as she drew her push dagger from her belt.

Windpaw gasped in surprise as she felt something hard pull against her throat, jerking her backwards. The hare felt a searing pain in the back of her neck, then numbness as she fell to the ground, dead. Startled, the buck readied his spear. His eyes widen as he saw what looked like fur snaking out of the wagon. The fur quickly wrapped itself around his neck and jerked forwards onto a curved blade that was thrust out from behind the flap. A hare saw them fall, and drew back his bowstring to avenge his fallen comrades. He loosed the arrow, sending it through the back of the cart.

Adraste and Skuld hit the floor of the wagon as the broad head-tipped arrow flew over them and embedded itself in Redpelt's shoulder. Adraste struck the archer down with slung stone whilst Skuld checked of Redpelt. "I'm okay.", the fox said, striking an approaching hare across the face with his whip. The dog fox surveyed the scene of carnage unfolding in front of him. He say the rapier wielding stoat struck down by arrows and the recently widowed weasel falling to a crossbow bolt through his back. The hulking badger swung her bardiche down on the hitching poles of one on the wagons, releasing the marmots we promptly fled into the forest, away from the carnage. "Let's get out of here!", Redpelt said loudly, swinging his whip down onto the backs of the marmots harnessed to their wagon. The beasts bellowed and rushed forwards, stampeding over a couple of hares in front of them. The fox steered the wagon around the badger, who was distracted by her current task of cutting the marmot free of their harnesses. "Stop them!", a hare shouted, pointing at the fleeing wagon with his bastard sword. Lady Aello turned around, swinging her bardiche in a wide arc as she did so.

Adraste and Skuld jumped back from the back of the wagon as the massive blade sliced through rearmost bow, causing the covering to collapse slightly. The badger roared angrily as her target darted out of her reach. Aello turned her reddened gaze to a wounded stoat laying on the road, his leg sliced open. "Mercy!", he pleaded holding his empty paws out. She snarled in disgust as she swung her axe down upon him, cleaving him in two. "Follow that wagon!", she ordered loudly. "Yes Lady!", several hares shouted unison before taking off down the road. The badger angrily upended one of the carts that the hares had freed the marmots from.

"Faster!", Redpelt shouted as he cracked the whip over the marmots head. The animals quickened their stride along the muddy road. They rounded a bend in the road sharply, the wagon swaying dangerously. The marmots the vehicle they towed slid off the pathway into a small cleared area beside the road. "Hang on!", the fox warned loudly as the marmots cleared a wide divot in the ground. The wagon landed on its tongue, hard. _Snap!_ Redpelt gasped in surprise as he jerked from his seat by the reins in his hand. The marmots drug him through the mud for a short distance before the fox let go. He lifted his broad-brimmed hat over his eyes as he watched marmots fled into the forest, shrieking in terror. He got to his footpaws, groaning in pain. He glanced over at the ruined wagon, its canopy drooping considerably. "Hey you okay in there?", he called out to his two passengers. "Yah we're both fine.", Adraste called back, poking here head out from behind the canvas flap. Suddenly, three arrows sprouted from Redpelt's chest and one from his forehead. The fox fell backwards, splayed out in the mud. Adraste ducked back into wagon as several hares rounded the bend, weapons drawn. Skuld gripped her ebony cane nervously as the hares encircled them. The red coated woodlanders approached the wagon with caution, their weapons at the ready. "When's the weal your writing predicted suppose to occur?", Adraste asked her friend. Skuld grimaced as she sensed the hares getting closer. The mink slung her bag over her shoulder, the vixen did the same. "I suppose we'll just try to push past them.", Adraste said, gripping her knife tightly.

Colonel Tarquin Kordyne gestured to the wagon. Lieutenant Ballaw Woodsorrel nodded and approached the damaged vehicle with his longsword and sword breaker at the ready. As he neared the rear of the wagon, he pushed the flap aside with his blade. Suddenly, a small chest came flying out of the back of the wagon, striking Ballaw in the belly. He fell on his back, the air knocked from his lungs. He looked up to see a mink and a fox jumping out of the back of the wagon. Reacting quickly, he grabbed the ankle of the mink as she tried to run over him. The vermin drew a sharp breath as she tumbled to the ground. The hare swiftly got his paws and rose his sword over his head. Adraste looked up to see the hare's weapon descending upon her head.


	2. Chapter 2

Skuld slowly regained consciousness, groaning slightly as she did so. She sensed the hares a couple of steps away. "What do you suppose we'll do with those two?", the younger-smelling one asked the elder. "The lady may decide to spare them, if they catch her on a good mood.", the older replied, chuckling. There was a loud crunching sound to the right. The hares turned there heads to look at the source of the noise. "From the way she's swinging at those carts, I doubt she'll be in a merciful mood when she walks over here.", the hare laughed.

Lady Aello roared as she chopped the remaining cart in half with her massive poleaxe. She looked about, continuing to seek targets for what she believed to be her righteous rage. A white hare, his jacket festooned with various medals, cautiously approached the armored behemoth. He cleared his throat to get the badger's attention. "Yes, Corporal?", she asked, the red receding from her eyes. "We've captured two of the vermin in the cart that tried to escape.", Frunk said as he cleaned off his monocle with a handkerchief. "Why did you not kill them?", Lady Aello asked, her paw clenching tighter around the hickory shaft of her bardiche. "General Lepus ordered us to take some prisoners. He thinks they may know of the vermin armada that landed a few weeks ago.", Frunk answered. "Very well, corporal. Burn the carts and the vermin remains.", Lady Aello said. "Yes lady. You heard her me laddie bucks! Get to it!", he shouted loudly.

Adraste awoke with a start as she felt a sharp blow to her ribcage. "Get up vermin!", a voice ordered loudly. She looked up to see a sable-furred hare standing over her, a javelin in his paw. "I said get up!", he shouted, raising his thin spear over his head. The ash shaft whistled through the air, striking the mink over her head. She grit her teeth as the blow connected, leaving a stinging welt. Snarling, she lunged forwards, sinking her fangs into his leg.

"Ahhh!", he screamed as Adraste tore a chunk of his flesh from his limb. Two nearby hares rushed to his aid, beating the mink with the hilts of their swords. She snarled and snapped at her attackers as they rained blows down upon her. She lunged upwards, grabbing one of them by the wrist. The hare cried out, his rapier falling from his grasp as Adraste bit down harder. Suddenly, the mink felt the cold edge of a blade pressing against her throat. "Let him go or die.", a cold voice warned. Reluctantly, she released the hare's wrist. "Damned vermin!", the bitten hare shouted furiously, backhanding her across her face. The hare removed a length of cord from his belt pouch. "Go get the other one up.", he said as he bound her muzzle shut.

Skuld grimaced as the figure in front of her lashed out with its footpaw. "Wake up scum!", the hare bellowed. The vixen opened her eyes and turned her head towards the figure looming over her. She could sense the figure, a young doe hare by the smell of her, wave a rapier on front of her face. "Get up, scum!", she ordered loudly.

The hares pulled the two of them roughly to their paws. Adraste snarled and tried to free her paws. "Stop squirming vermin!", a hare ordered, slapping her. The fox responded by kicking him in between his legs. The hare doubled over in pain as the two hares holding Adraste shoved her to the ground. They kicked and beat the fallen mink with their weapons. "Enough!", a voice ordered loudly.

The hares ceased beating their bound captive and turned in the direction the voice had come from. Adraste rose her face from the mud to see a black scorpion hiding under the wreckage of carts. _Shall I attack, mistress?,_ it asked the mink telepathically. _No, we don't seem to be in immediate danger of death or dismemberment yet,_ she replied. Adraste turned her head to see who had ordered the long-eared brutes to stop.

Lieutenant Ballaw approached the hares guarding the prisoners. "Lady Aello said to burn the carts and bring the prisoners, we're leaving wot wot.", he said. "Yes lieutenant! You heard him vermin, get on your paws!", the hares ordered the two captives loudly. One of them shoved Skuld forwards, sending her stumbling into Ballaw. "Apologies.", the vixen said, staring into space. Ballaw looked into the vixen's pale, unresponsive eyes. He waved his paw across her face, noting that her eyes continued to stare blankly ahead. _She's blind.,_ he noted mentally. Ballaw hooked his arm around hers and gently lead her in the direction of the rest of the hares.

Adraste continued struggling in the grip of two hares. She head-butted on of the in the face, breaking his nose. "Vermin scum!", he shouted furiously before kicking her hard in the stomach. She groaned as she fell flat on her back. She rose her head up, only to have the hare kick her in the face. The mink grit her teeth as she felt her nose break, blood drippling down her muzzle. The hare stood over her and rammed the butt of his spear into her stomach. Adraste gasped as the air was knocked from her lungs. The hare reached down and pulled her to her paws by the scruff of her neck. "Move it, ya blighter!", he shouted angrily as he shoved her forwards. She heard a crashing sound to her left. Turning her head, she saw a hare smashing a large clay jug over the remains of one of the carts.

Skuld wrinkled her nose as she smelt vegetable oil. _They're burning the carts,_ she thought as the crackling of fire greeted her ears. She listened to the hare to her left. From the sound of the wind blowing past his long ears, she could discern that he was a good bit taller than her. She could smell the badger standing nearby, an older female by her scent. _They seem to have confiscated my dagger.,_ she thought as she felt along her waist with her cuffed paws. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she addressed her captor. "What is going on sir?", she asked, careful to keep her tone respectful. "You, fox, are now a prisoner of the Long Patrol wot wot.", he replied.


End file.
